


The Education of Zacharias Smith (on Muggle Things)

by Slumber



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Muggle/Wizard Relations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-21
Updated: 2011-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26382322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slumber/pseuds/Slumber
Summary: Zacharias discovers television.
Relationships: Hannah Abbott/Zacharias Smith
Kudos: 2
Collections: 30-minute Writer's Block Challenge





	The Education of Zacharias Smith (on Muggle Things)

Zacharias looked dubious. "But how does it do that?" he asked.

Hannah giggled. Magic, she was tempted to say, but that was an answer that had little to do at all with the actual reason behind the way it functioned, now, did it? "Muggles have their own way of doing things," she explained. "This is why you should have taken Muggle Studies, you know."

"I don't need to do Muggle Studies," Zacharias muttered. "S'what you're there for, right? You can just explain it to me."

Hannah rolled her eyes. Being the one of only two Muggleborns in her year meant she (and Justin) had been considered _the_ source for everything Muggle. Susan Bones and Ernie Macmillan took that to mean they could go to Hannah and Justin about their Muggle Studies homework (which she had no trouble helping them with until she found out, when the professor kept grading her incorrectly, that the professor barely knew her materials either). Zacharias Smith used the opportunity to tease her about all the Muggle misconceptions that pureblooded wizards had about them. 

They were sitting in her living room, which was half-Muggle and half-magical, and Zacharias had spent the entire last half hour in a state of confusion and fascination, picking up random things and asking her what they were for, and why Muggles didn't just use the magical equivalent. She'd gotten so tired of explaining to him that Muggles didn't _have_ access to the magical equivalent that eventually she just decided to make up her own explanations.

The Muggles didn't use the fireplace to travel because the Floo was reserved specifically for St. Nick only.

The Muggles used pens because there was would be a shortage of quills worldwide if they kept using them.

The Muggles bought potions instead of brewing them to get better because the Muggle ministry banned the use of cauldrons in Muggle homes when they found the lead in them caused Muggle sicknesses.

The television, however, had befuddled Zacharias completely. Hannah had turned it on-- she didn't even think, it had just been something she'd been so used to doing whenever she came back home from a shift at The Leaky-- and Zacharias had squeaked, running over, wand drawn.

"What dark magic is this?" he'd asked, then demanded Hannah release the poor Muggles that she'd trapped in her box to do her bidding.

"It's a _television_ , Zacharias," she'd explained patiently, and it took a good ten minutes to assure Zacharias that the people in there weren't _actually_ there, that the box was merely transmitting a signal sent from a faraway place, where the people _actually_ were. (She decided not to get into the whole concept of taped shows-- one baby step at a time, she figured.)

Zacharias had seemed dubious, not of her explanation but of the notion that Muggles were clever enough to have figured all that out without magic to begin with. Hannah had half a mind to go into a lecture about electricity, but decided in the end that it really didn't matter. Most wizards still had extremely ignorant ideas about how Muggles fended for themselves, which she found alternately amusing and annoying.

"So," Zacharias said again. He'd sat down on her couch and had been watching the show-- some soap opera that Hannah wasn't really familiar with-- for a few minutes. "What's this for?"

"Entertainment, mostly," she said. 

"But people are sneaking around on each other-- that's not very funny, is it? And don't they get caught in their lies?"

"It's not actually real, it's only a story," Hannah said.

"It's not real?"

"Yeah, they're just acting. Like a play."

Zacharias frowned. "So that man who died--"

"He isn't really dead, no."

"Oh, good, because I thought it was odd no one came to his aid right away."

"It's just a story, Zach." Hannah placed a bowl of chips in front of them and Summoned glasses of apple juice from her fridge.

"And Muggles just sit and watch this?"

"Yeah, that's what they do."

"What if they don't want to see that anymore?" he asked. 

"Then you turn it off, or you change the channel so you're getting a different signal," Hannah explained. She took the remote and flipped the channel to show Zacharias. The telly flickered onto an ongoing rugby match, which caught Zacharias' attention.

"What's that?"

"Some game."

"They aren't in brooms though. Why aren't they flying?"

"Muggles don't fly, remember?"

"Right. So they're just running around carrying a ball? That's kind of boring."

"Not much different from you flying around carrying a ball, Zach," she teased.

Zacharias gasped, a little offended by her offensive words. "Hannah, wash your mouth!"

She giggled. "Anyway, I don't really get it all that much either, except my cousin pointed out they're really _fit_ \--"

"GOAL!" Zacharias hooted, jumping from his seat and pumping the air. "Did you see that? How he avoided the other men? That was pretty wicked, wasn't it?"

Hannah rolled her eyes. Zacharias was _such_ a boy sometimes. "You can also watch movies on the telly," she said.

"Moo-vees? What are those?"

"They're longer stories," she explained, turning the channel away from the match ("Hey," Zacharias protested) and picking out her favorite movie from her collection. She popped that in. 

"What's that?" Zacharias asked.

"My favorite movie," was her simple reply. She settled back in her seat-- Zacharias had picked up the bowl of chips and was digging in-- and watched. 

"Is this a schmoopy story?" Zacharias asked, eyeing the empty DVD box suspiciously.

"Maybe."

"Are you tricking me into watching a schmoopy story?"

Hannah said nothing, only moving to lean against Zacharias, who placed his arm around her shoulder and drew her closer. "This is what Muggles who like to watch telly usually do," she told him.

"Yeah?" Zacharias looked at her with renewed interest. "What if they don't want to watch what's on?"

"They better; it's my _favorite_ ," Hannah murmured. She did, however, tip her chin up to press a kiss to Zacharias' lips.

"Could be mine too," Zacharias whispered, and Hannah giggled, swatting his hand away when it dared to wander. 

" _Manners_ , Zach!" she admonished him.

He pouted.

"If you watch this with me," she said. "I'll take you to an actual movie theater."

"What's that?"

"It's where Muggles watch most movies," she said, biting her lip to keep from smirking. "It's also really dark and they've got comfy seats and popcorn and candy."

"You had me at 'really dark'," Zacharias told her with a wicked grin. "Maybe Muggles got a couple of things right after all."

He kissed her again, and Hannah sighed happily. They definitely did, she thought to herself.

**Author's Note:**

> Please consider donating to local organizations who support trans individuals in your area.


End file.
